Published 1:00 am, Saturday, February 11, 2006

Health insurance is always a top political issue regardless of political party affiliation. Here in Connecticut, a bill is being proposed that employers with more than 2,500 employees must prove they pay $2.50 per hour per employee into providing health insurance.

If the employer fails to meet this requirement they would have to pay a fee to make up the difference. In Maryland similar legislation has already been passed, albeit at a higher employee threshold of 10,000.

With 45 million Americans having no health insurance it is clear that healthcare reform is something that needs to be addressed at the national level. Most modernized nations have a national healthcare system that provides healthcare to all their citizens. While I think this is a good idea in theory I don't think this can be implemented here in the United States. People here are not used to waiting for healthcare; in the countries that do have national insurance, the waiting for "routine" surgery can often take a year.

So if national healthcare insurance is not the answer, what is? Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has come up with an idea that would make it a requirement for every citizen in Massachusetts to have health insurance. I think this is a step in the right direction, however I would take it one step further. My idea would be to phase out employer health insurance all together. We are competing in a global economy and our companies are competing at a disadvantage of having to pay increasingly expensive healthcare costs.

I am tired of hearing people complaining about Wal-Mart and how they treat their employees. The facts are that Wal-Mart runs an amazing business model and people single them out because their business model employs a large number of low waged, low skilled jobs. If Wal-Mart is so bad, then why do so many people still shop there and why do people work there in such a low unemployment economy?

If employer sponsored health insurance were phased out how would people obtain insurance? Well, there is no such thing as employer sponsored auto insurance and people obtain automobile insurance. My proposal would move healthcare insurance to the private sector and make it a national law that everyone must obtain a minimum level of insurance. This would be similar to the current state laws that require insurance in order to own and operate a motor vehicle. For those under a certain income level the insurance could be partially subsidized.

When so many states are individually starting to take action on healthcare it is endemic of a problem in our nation as a whole.

Shifting the burden off our companies and onto ourselves would be a step to fix the growing healthcare dilemma. It is time for a major overhaul and I think my plan would point us in the right direction. With this year being an election year I hope our national representatives are listening to their constituents in understanding that healthcare is a critical issue and that healthcare reform needs to be number one on the "to do" list.

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Eliette Matos is publisher of El Canillita, a weekly Spanish language newspaper distributed throughout Connecticut and located in Danbury. She can be contacted at (203) 798-2120.